


Fragments of Light

by VoidySkelecat



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Allagan empire, Amaurotines (Final Fantasy XIV), FFxivWrite2020, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:35:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26245774
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VoidySkelecat/pseuds/VoidySkelecat
Summary: Short pieces for FFXIVwrite2020Rating and tags subject to change
Relationships: Haurchefant Greystone/Warrior of Light (Past), Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV)/Other(s)
Kudos: 2





	1. Crux

He never thought it would be easy. The first Primal to fall signaled the end of normality. No longer was he merely a sword for the Scions, but the Warrior of Light. People turned their faces to him with hope in their eyes, and he was instilled with a sense of purpose.

He would be their hero. But for every hero that had their happy ending, there was another who met a tragic end.

Cernunnos stood with his face turned to the clouded sky of Ishgard, eyes stinging. He still had a duty, but he couldn't barely bring himself to move. Not long ago the knight of the Heavens' Ward had pierced Haurchefant Greystone's heart, leaving him to bleed out in Cernunnos's arms. It wasn't the first death Cernunnos had witnessed, nor did he think it would be the last, but it hurt no less. It felt like something had seized his heart and squeezed the love and the life from it.

The only thing that drove him now was anger towards the injustice of it all, and…

"Aren't you cold?"

He startled, tail shooting straight out. When he glanced over his shoulder he found Chiral standing behind him, hands shoved in the pockets of his coat and his tail swaying behind him.

Coat. Oh. Cernunnos rubbed his arms, suddenly very aware of the breeze biting his skin.

"A bit."

"I'd offer you my coat but I don't think it'd fit. Come inside? The others are worried."

Cernunnos nodded, eyes lingering on Chiral's face. Lovely and alive and becoming more familiar by the day.

He flushed and looked away. Moving past Kai towards the entrance of the manor.

He'd stuck on a point of difficulty, and his grief bit deep, but he had to keep going for those who still breathed. Otherwise this war would never end, and Menphina only knew how much more they'd all lose.


	2. Sway

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The 14th waits for the end

A breeze swept through the park, making the flowers dance and sway in the wind. The 14th sat with their mask in the their lap and their face turned to the sky. It was a beautiful night with a clear sky brimming with stars, but no one was around to enjoy it with them.

Hythlodaeus would be asleep and Hades was…

Working. Working tirelessly to bring forth a god that would save their star. The Scream disturbed the peace, distant but growing ever closer. The Scream necessitated the Convocation making a child the heart of this god. Making them their Elidibus.

A monstrosity, and nothing the 14th said or did was enough to make them change their mind. Nothing they said swayed them, and they would not stay and be part of it.

So they left, simple as that. They would sit alone in peace until the end reached Amaurot and swallowed the city into the dark, with one last dying gasp.


	3. Muster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A master of a dying art flees into the night

They were all lined up, pretty and perfectly postured. The well oiled, well bred killing machines. Arc watched from the shadows of their mask as the caption walked before the muster of Iksalon. In a few hours they'd be released on the city, and the dissenters would wake to claws and beaks ripping them from limb to limb.

Arc huffed and wheeled away. They weren't safe here any longer. Each day drove them further and further from the Capitol, and they were running out of places to hide. The men might not recognize their face, but the nodes they brought with them would.

One quick scan of their face, and Arc would be gunned down. Even the mask wouldn't save them, as the members of the rebellion had taken to covering their faces. It would only make them suspect they were one of them and they'd be shot down just as quickly.

So they swept out of town before the sun could dip below the horizon. They would not be present when Allag once again fired on her own people. There was only so much Arc could take, and they wanted, no, they  _ needed  _ to live.

Because Allag wanted her summoners dead as badly as those dogs who bared their teeth at them, and Arc would not let their art die with them.


	4. Clinch

Cernunnos had been taught knots by a fellow recruit during his brief time with the Twins Adders. The most morbid of them was the clinch. The hangman's knot - it was used to form a noose.

The Crystal Braves had certainly mastered such a knot, and now he and the Scions may as well be standing with ropes around their necks, ready to be dropped.

Cernunnos could only think of Nanamo's wide eyes look of pain as the poison took hold. Yda and Papalymo and Thancred and Minfilia and Y'shtola all getting trapped or cornered one by one, until it was just him running blind through the dark.

They had given themselves up for him, because the Warrior of Light  _ needed  _ to be saved. And he hated himself for it. Hated Hydaelyn and this damned blessing.

Rushing blindly through the dark, he wished for a simpler time before her voice rang in his ears.


	5. As a Matter of Fact

Arc let out a breath and stretched until their knees cracked. In the semi darkness of the candlelit room, they could barely make out their reflection in the dressing mirror. But it was still there, every scar, every tattoo, every part of them that marked who they were.

Five thousand years and stasis had made them a relic. As a matter of fact, they were, as far as they knew, the only surviving Allagan. And for every monstrosity the Empire had committed, the loss of an entire culture,  _ their _ culture, was….devastating.

Yet, it had survived in a way. There were those who could operate their machines and had deciphered their written language. Who'd marked their conquests and...cleaned up their messes. Allag had left scars on Eorzea that were so deep their source was not likely to be forgotten.

Dalmund had scorched the land and left shards of itself buried deep in the planet's skin. Numerous lives had been lost to Bahamut's flames, and many more had died in the aftermath.

And, if the most recent development was to be believed, Azys Lla yet hung in the heavens.

They didn't know how to feel. They'd spent so long in those hallowed halls of knowledge. Contributed to the most terrifying of their research…

They wondered just how much of that research had survived.

For better or for worse, they would find out.


End file.
